An Unlikely Member
by emilyolivia
Summary: A young girl called Matilda joins the gang after a series of events keep putting her in need of help from the group. But when she falls pregnant what are they going to do? She's part of the gang after all they couldn't just abandon her could they? And Allan is beginning to really fall for her. Some dark/adult themes, rated M just to be on the safe side.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: i do not own any of the character here as much as i wish i did ;) My OC, Matilda, is mine however. This is my first story so be prepared for mistakes. It's got short chapters to begin with but there will be longer ones once i've set the scene. Thanks, please R&R :)**_

The forest was silent. Not one snap of a twig, a rustle of a tree or the song of a bird could be heard. It was as if the forest was sleeping, undisturbed in this summer morning. A light gust of wind interrupted this, it rippled around the trees as they shock their branches as if they were stretching out after a long nights sleep.

_*crunch*_

*crunch*

*crunch*

The sleepy north road was awakened by the sound of a horse padding down the leafy track. On it, was a young woman with a long dark green cloak and hood covering her pale blue dress. She looked like a noble, yet by the way she covered herself and the tatty untidiness of the dress made it clear that even if she was a noble, she wasn't particularly wealthy at this point in time.  
Suddenly, out of no-where a young man jumped out from a nearby tree onto the road.

"This my friend, is an ambush!" he said with a large grin on his face.  
At the sudden appearance of the man the horse flew it's legs up into the air startled and kicked about.  
"Woa, woa boy!" the girl panicked, struggling to keep her balance. Two more men appeared at the outlaws side, one skinnier lad and a very large man armed with a wooden staff.  
"Woa, carefull, calm down boy!" The first outlaw said trying to control the horse as it kept lifting its legs up, rocking the young girl back violently on it's back. The other two men, who looked worried as the horse flew about tried to grab it's reigns and settle it but with one large kick the horse made the young woman tumble backwards from it. Head first, she crashed onto the hard ground, knocking her unconscious.


	2. Chapter 2

"Christ we weren't supposed to kill her" Allan said, running to the girl who was now sprawled out on the ground, a small amount of blood trickled from her head.

Will walked up to the girl, "She's not dead, you can still see her breathing" he said pointing to her chest which was continuing to steadily rise up and down.

John, who had now successfully controlled the horse, made his way towards the other two, "We better take her back to camp, Djaq knows how to deal with this sort of stuff".

At the camp, Djaq has just finished stirring a stew that Much had strictly told her to take care of, after all, he had finally caught an actual rabbit after what seemed like months of squirrel after squirrel for breakfast. Allan and Will stumbled back to the camp both holding the young girl. Her hood had fallen down now to reveal her long golden curls which were spoiled by twigs and leaved stuck to her hair from the amount of times Allan and Will had dropped her on the way back.  
"Wouldn't it just have been easier if one of you had carried her, rather than both at the same time?" said John, who had followed behind them.  
Djaq stood up, "Men! Always complicating the situation." she said, with a roll of her eyes. Will looked up at her and smiled, which went unnoticed by everyone except John.

"So, who is your lady friend?" Djaq asked with her hands on her hips.

"She…she fell, we ambushed her and her horse…kicked her off.." Allan managed to get out, breathless.

"We ambushed her but her horse got startled and knock her off, and she hit her head, can you help her, we never meant to hurt her you see" Will said as he sat down on a log, looking forward to finally having a decent breakfast.

"Come on Djaq, you know about healing stuff and all that" Allan said, resting the girl against a tree and tying her hands behind he back.

"Why are you tying her up?" Djaq asked.

"I'm not being funny but, we're still in the process of ambushing her"

Almost an hour had passed since the boys had caused the young girl to get knocked out, and Djaq had stopped the bleeding and was attempting to wake her up. Will, Allan and John had all finished their stew and had searched the belongings of the girl only to find she had a mere 5 coins on her person"If Robin and Much don't hurry up delivering the food to Nettleston then I'm going to die of boredom, we were supposed to all go to Locksley as well later" Allan said fidgeting with his bow and arrows.

"The girl, she's waking up" Djaq called out to the others. The girl, who looked in her early twenties, looked at the men with large brown eyes. She had elegant little features and freckles across her nose which made her look younger than she actually was.

"What's going on?" she questioned as Djaq untied her.

"We take your money, and give it to the poor, who are hungry and ill" said Will, taking the lead position in their little Robin-less group.

"Oh! I know who you are, you're Robin Hoods men aren't you" she smiled, seemingly a bit too happy for a person who's essentially being robbed.

"That's right"


	3. Chapter 3

"Yes I've heard about the things you do, mind you, I thought it was all a story at first, there should be more people like you" she beamed up at them. The outlaws looked at each other, slightly confused but flattered by her compliments towards them.

"You only got 5 coins here, do you have anything else of value?" said Allan, still thinking about the job in hand.

"I'm afraid not, I've got this necklace though, but it was a present from my late mother, if you must have it you can take it"

"No don't worry about that, is this all you have in the world, 5 coins and a necklace?" inquisited John, slightly confused at her cheerfulness despite being clearly poor herself.

"Well, yes. Look, I'm awfully sorry I don't have any more to give you but please take what you wish" Allan reached into the girls bag of coins before Wills hand stopped him. "What?", he was confused, 'If she says we can take what we like, why not?' Allan thought to himself.

"We thank you for your honestly and concern but you really don't have to give us anything, that would be like robbing from the poor to give to the poor" Will said with a smile.

"My, this is the politest robbery I've ever been involved in!" the girl giggled. "I better be on my way then, my uncle will be expecting me in Nottingham". The girl looked down, and suddenly appeared awfully sad, as if she didn't even want to go there. "Nice to meet you all".

"I hope my broths not been ruined Djaq" Much said in his usual 'I-knew-better-all-along' tone, arriving back with Robin.  
Robin noticed the girl and with a smile he walked up to the others, "What do we have here then? Hope she's given us lots of coins and expensive jewellery yes?" He asked, still grinning.

"Actually Robin, she doesn't really have anything worth taking at all, bit poor really" Allan replied.

"What's your name?", Robin walked closer to her.

"Matilda, sir"

"Haha you don't have to call him sir" Allan laughed.

"I call him master!" Much piped up from the camp fire, face stuffed full of rabbit broth.

"Yeah but you're … well … you know"

"I'm what?"

"Well you're just different aren't you", Allan said. Much frowned, unaware that what Allan said was probably intended to be an insult.

"Well Matilda, would you like anything to help you on your way?" Robin turned to her again.

"I really couldn't possibly accept anything Robin, but it's very kind of you to offer. Thank you all again, especially Djaq for helping me with that horse accident earlier" and with that she turned, picked up her belongings and walked off down the hill.

"Horse accident?" Robin said with a smile as he watched Matilda.

"Long story" John sighed.


	4. Chapter 4

It hadn't been more than about ten minutes since Matilda left, but then gang had already packed up from breakfast and were out looking for somewhere to train when they came across a nice clearing in the wood. "The people of Nettleston were worse than we thought, there hasn't been a very good crop this year and the lack of rain has meant that they can't grow any food, they're getting really hungry", Robin said as the group sat in the midday sun.  
"If the sheriff didn't keep raising taxes then the poor would have enough money to be able to go buy their own food! I hate the sheriff" Will said, with a vacant expression on his face as he stared into the distance.

"Help! Hel- Agh! Help m…!" the muffled sounds of a female screaming echoed throughout the forest.

"It sounds like a woman" Allan shot up, preparing his sword.

"She's close" Djaq stood up too followed by the others. They looked around, straining to hear where the noise was coming from.

"The north road!" Robin yelled as he darted off through the trees.

The gang ran as fast as they could. They'd never been involved in situations like this before, it was usually them doing the robbery of the killing of cruel people but this was different. It sounded like someone desperately trying to get away but being restrained and muffled, as if someone didn't want anyone to hear her screams. Will and Robin suspected it was something to do with Gisbone, after all it usually was. But Djaq had a deep feeling in her that it was something completely different yet just as sinister and it made her panic.

**_*Matilda POV*_**

It hurt. It hurt so much that I thought I was going to die then and there. The men had now crowed round me as I lay on the ground covered in bruises and mud and leaves. Some were laughing and others were trying to pull the first man off me so I presume they could have a go too. I felt like being sick, I wanted to be sick, at least that might put them off so they would stop what they were doing. I felt a tear reach my mouth as I continued to scream for help, but I wasn't even aware that I was crying. My mother had only once told me about the risks of being on your own among men, but I was very young at the time and she wouldn't have told me about them trying to do anything like this to me. I longed to see that gang of outlaws again, they'd help me, Robin Hood and that nice one Djaq. They were so kind to me. I just couldn't stop thinking about the one with those amazing blue eyes either, even when he jumped out to ambush me I was rather taken aback by his looks. I wonder if he is with that girl Djaq, I do hope not, he's awfully lovely.

Matilda wasn't aware of the new man who was now on top of her and of how the laugher of the other men was growing louder. She was clearly in such a state of panic and pain that her brain tried to combat that by allowing her to just daydream and try to ignore what was going on. However it didn't last for long.  
Robin, Will, Djaq, Allan, Much and John had found the source of the cries for help and were ducked behind a fallen tree by the side of the road. When Allan saw Matilda on the ground surrounded by 5 large men, two of which had no hair and torn clothes, he lurched up from the tree but Robin pulled him back out of sight.

"No, we can't, there's less of them than us but they're bigger and stronger, we can't go now" Robin persisted.

"Look what they're doing to her!" Allan pleaded, clearly distressed.

Djaq stood up, "No, Robin, we have to go now, honestly, it could already be too late", she had a grave look on her face that almost scared Robin, he realised that Djaq obviously knew exactly what was going on, even if the others didn't. They drew their swords and crept up behind the pre-occupied men.

"Get yourself away from her!" cried Robin lunging the sword at the unarmed men.  
Two of them put their hands up and gave themselves up straight away so Will went to immediately tie them up but the other three weren't so bothered. Allan and Much knocked one of the men out with pieces of wood but one dived at Djaq. John intercepted his path with his stuff and the man went flying to the ground when Djaq tied his hands up and knocked him out. Allan pushed the man off Matilda but the large man fought back, thumping Allan in the stomach. Much pulled the man up by his neck with a piece of rope and when Allan saw that the man had his trousers down by his ankles he almost fainted in realisation. He grabbed Matilda up who was nearly unconscious and bleeding quite a lot and Much along with Robin took care of the last man.

Djaq ran up to Robin, sword still in hand. Robin, we need to get her back to camp now, she needs urgent help, can you fetch my medical supplies from the store, we need them now"


	5. Chapter 5

In a blur the group had almost run all the way back, including Allan who was carrying an 8 stone girl but didn't seem to care at all, he wasn't breathless like last time since he had so much adrenaline pumping through him, they all did in fact. When they reached the camp the made up a bed to rest Matilda down on and Djaq went to work to stop her bleeding. No one said anything for what seemed like forever until Robin returned with Djaqs supplies.

"How is she?" He said, breathing heavily after the long run.

"Not looking good, I think she's internally bleeding, I've never delt with that before which will be very hard to stop"

"Internally bleeding from where?" Allan looked at Matilda for some sort of massive stab wound, but he couldn't see any, just small bruised and scratches. Robin and Djac both looked at Allan in silence, blank expressions on their faces.

"Oh. Oh gosh" Allan said, when he realised. "Is that even possible"

"Of course it is Allan, the body is very delicate" Djaq said, without even looking up at him, she was trying to see exactly where the blood was coming from.  
"You know this could kill her so unless I get some privacy I cannot work" she said staring intently at the two men. They left her without a sound.  
"Could it really kill her?" Allan said to Robin as they walked over to the fire where the others sat in silence.

"If Djaq says so yes." He replied, with just as much hurt in his voice as Allan's.

"I was beginning to like her " Allan whispered so that Robin didn't hear. It was true, ever since he saw her on that horse, her big brown eyes stared shocked at him from under her hood and once he saw her flowing ginger curls he couldn't resist. He thought she was beautiful and it made him feel physically sick at the thought of those men all doing that to her.

***Later at the camp***

Djaq had cared for Matilda for about two hours now. She'd made sure the bleeding had thoroughly stopped and that all the wounds were clean. Will couldn't stop watching Djaq at work, he was amazed at her knowledge, 'no men I know could do that' he thought to himself. Allan, John and Robin had done the drop in Locksley, though with the girl in a critical state back at camp the whole time they felt rather depressed and deflated even though they were completing the usually rewarding task of the food drop.  
Robin of course, blamed himself. He mentally beat himself up because it was his forest and therefore he should have known about those men, warned Matilda or got there faster. Anything to have made sure it didn't happen. John's reaction to it all had been like an uncle, caring and sympathetic, but from afar. Allan, on the other hand, just wanted to do nothing more than go back to Matilda and give her a massive hug and make her feel better.


End file.
